


Suffer the Children

by agentx13 (rebelle_elle)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 11:16:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3486179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelle_elle/pseuds/agentx13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A teenage Tony gets in trouble and has to babysit Sharon Carter. I.e., things start out bad and then get worse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Suffer the Children

Babysitting. How Tony had ever gotten stuck with a job like this was beyond his genius intellect. And he didn’t like how the kid was looking at him, like she was sizing him up. She was supposed to be, what, six? Eight? Kids shouldn’t be allowed to look at teenagers like they were chumps. 

“Your aunt asked me to babysit.”

“No, she _told_ you to. And then your dad told you to, too. ‘Cause you had that party and trashed his place and now he wants you to learn how to be responsible.”

Tony realized he hated kids.

“Whatever, pipsqueak. Dad told me to take you to the zoo so you could wear yourself out. Come on.”

Her legs swayed back and forth over the edge of the chair as she thought it over. “We have to get ice cream.”

Little punk. Was she haggling with him? Ugh. At least it was only ice cream. Tony could go for that. Let her think she’d won. “Fine. So long as we get pizza.”

She gave him the eye again. It wasn’t as piercing as her aunt’s, but he could see where the little snot got it. “And play SHIELD versus Hydra?”

That was where he drew the line. No way was Tony going to run around playing pretend. He was a teenager, for God’s sake. “We’ll play feed the ducks.”

“But then you have to give me piggyback rides.”

Tony glared at her. “I’ve seen business deals go smoother than this, kid.”

She grinned. He wasn’t sure she was even old enough to understand what he was talking about, but she understood that he was caving.

Two hours later, she was firmly attached to his back. Since he had to carry her, he’d convinced her to carry their food to even it all out, and she had two bowls of half-melted ice cream in her hands and an oversized backpack that hit both of them awkwardly with every step. Tony was too stubborn to change anything, despite how the backpack hurt sometimes when it thumped against him and neither of them could actually eat their ice cream. It was hot, it was muggy, there were too many people, and a group of kids from his old high school had spotted them in the cafe and had made fun of him for having to babysit. Of course, they’d also made fun of him for being scrawny and weird and said he just had it easy because he was rich. He told himself they were just jealous, but that only did so much to ease the sting. Building a robot that could punch them would be much more effective.

On his back, the kid went quiet. Just when he was starting to worry, he heard her speak. “Hey. That’s that kid that was being mean to you at the restaurant.”

Tony made a face. “That’s how adults talk to each other.” He looked around for another path to take that would seem natural and not cowardly.

“Hydra,” she said.

“What?”

She stretched the ice cream bowls in front of him. “SHIELD versus Hydra. You said we could play. That guy’s Hydra, right?”

Tony knew for a fact that he had never agreed to that damn game. “I don’t think he wants to play, kid.”

“He doesn’t have to know we’re playing. Captain America ambushed Hydra plenty of times and they didn’t know until they got hit.”

“Look, I don’t need you to defend my honor.”

“You don’t have any anyway.” Her voice was snide. Who the hell had raised such an asshole kid?

“Are you ever going to drop this?”

She didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. 

Tony sighed.

“How fast can you run? Or am I gonna have to do this myself?” The little weasel. What did she think? That he’d set her down and let her get into a fight for his honor? She probably knew he was getting tired and would have to put her down at some point.

There was no way he was going to let a kid pick a fight with a bunch of bullies. He didn’t like her. He didn’t like being here. He didn’t like anything right now. He wanted to be in his lab. But he couldn’t let them beat the crap out of her.

“We could just leave.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” she demanded. “Besides, we can leave after. You’ll feel great, I promise.”

“How the hell did you get so fucking creepy?” Tony muttered.

“Oooooooooooooooooooooh. Tony said a bad woooooooooooord.”

Fifteen minutes later, Tony gasped for breath as he peeled out of the parking lot, sweating from the run, sore from the backpack hitting him as he’d sprinted away. “Good thing they’re not smart enough to ever go to college,” he panted.

The kid, the little maniac, laughed in the backseat, rolling around before buckling herself in. “Told you it would feel great!”

“You do this a lot, kid?”

“It’s _Sharon._ ” She tried to shove his head but couldn’t reach. He smirked at her in the rearview mirror. She stretched out her foot to hit his arm. “And I won’t tell Aunt Peggy if you don’t.”

“Deal.” 

Okay. So maybe one small part of him liked one kid. But only one. No big deal. He was still cool.

For a nerd.


End file.
